Meet Our Board
Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, a Gambian National, is a former United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), as part of the TrustAfrica board. Mr. Janneh is a life-long committed champion working to eradicate poverty and strengthening institutions on the continent.
Mr. Janneh successfully...
Coordinator for Africans Rising for peace justice and dignity based in Dakar, she was born and raised in West Africa, Coumba Toure is a writer and a storyteller. She designs and produce a range of education material and programs for children and young people (books, clothes, games) through Falia artist...
Dr. Assefa Bequele, a Pan-Africanist of Ethiopian origin, is an economist by training and an internationally recognised authority on child rights and wellbeing.
Dr. Assefa Bequele, a Pan-Africanist of Ethiopian origin, is an economist by training and an internationally recognised authority on child rights and wellbeing. His academic and professional...
Ebrima Sall is the immediate past Executive Secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, CODESRIA, Africa’s leading social research council that was ranked top think tank of Sub-Saharan Africa in the 2016 Goto-Global Think Tanks Report of the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to becoming...
Hakim Ben Hammouda is a Tunisian economist and served as Minister of Economics and Finance between 2014 and 2015. Successfully combining academic research and operational technical support, he has significant experience in development issues and global economic governance.
He holds a PhD and is accredited to conduct research in international...
Sibongile (Bongi) Mkhabela, a social worker by profession and an activist by orientation, is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) as well as the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust (NMCH Trust).
Most recently, she was awarded The Order of Luthuli (Silver) by the President...
Dr. Tawanda Mutasah is Vice President of Global Partnerships and Impact at Oxfam America, with responsibility for overall strategic and operational leadership of Oxfam America’s programs. He has previously served as the Senior Director of International Law and Policy at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, from where he oversaw...
Former Board
Dr. Odaga is the Managing Director for the Dangote Foundation. Previously, she was the Ford Foundation’s representative for West Africa for 11 years, having served as a program officer for
environment and microfinance in West Africa. Before joining the foundation, she worked on a project to strengthen the role of...
A renowned champion of girls’ and women’s learning, Ms. Bah Diallo is from Guinea, where she served as Minister of Education from 1989 to 1996, implementing major reforms that strengthened access to primary education and doubled girls’ enrollment. She went on to become a senior education leader at UNESCO, where,...
Dr. Aidoo has extensive experience in philanthropy in Africa. His previous positions include regional program officer for West and Central Africa
at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), head of the Ford Foundation’s offices in Senegal and Nigeria from 1993 to 2001, and director of the Ford Foundation’s Special Initiative...
Professor Zewde is an eminent historian who now serves as emeritus professor of history at Addis Ababa University. He is a founding member of the Forum for Social Studies, whose board he chaired from 1998 to 2004,
and is active in the leadership of several pan-African and subregional associations and...
On 28 July 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Dr. Natalia Kanem, of Panama, as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Dr. Kanem brings to the position more than 25 years of strategic leadership experience in the fields of medicine, public...
Fouad Abdelmoumni is a Moroccan human rights activist who has been actively involved in the civil society movement for democracy, good governance, and inclusive development in Africa over the last 35 years. During his youth, Fouad was a prisoner of conscience and disappeared “incommunicado” for 5 years under the regime...
Gerry Salole is the chief executive of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) since 2005. The EFC is an association of over 230 public-benefit foundations and corporate funders. Salole’s previous posts have included serving as a representative at the Ford Foundation’s Southern Africa office and director of the Department of Programme...
Ms Mawiyoo is chief executive officer of the Kenya Community Development Foundation, the only public national foundation in Kenya, which works to promote sustainable development through social investments and grant making that empowers disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. She previously worked at the Kenyan Ministry of Culture and Social Services, the...
Mr. Karim Tazi is a leading private sector entrepreneur who heads the Richbond Group in Morocco
Mr. Karim Tazi is a leading private sector entrepreneur who heads the Richbond Group in Morocco. He studied international law at the Sorbonne and earned his MBA at the Wharton Business School at the...
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana currently serves as the Bishop of the Diocese of Maropeng of the Ethiopian Episcopal Church, where he provides strategic direction to the mission of the diocese and overseeing the pastoral ministrations of priests and lay leaders in his diocese. His mission in the church is “to contribute...
Omotade “Tade” Akin Aina is the Executive Director of the Partnership for African Social Governance and Research based in Nairobi. Previously, Tade was Program Director, Higher Education in Africa, at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Tade is an experienced foundation executive whose decade-long tenure in the Ford Foundation’s Nairobi...
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Dr. Murisa joined TrustAfrica in December 2009 to coordinate our efforts to build an effective advocacy movement for sustainable and equitable agricultural development in Africa. He was named Executive Director by TrustAfrica’s Board of Trustees in July 2014, and took office on 1 October 2014....